The Nicola Valley Teacher’s Union president says he is shocked by the school district’s cancellation of an alternate school program that will result in job losses and student displacement.

School District 58 is closing down the 18-year-old Directed Studies Centre in Merritt due to what it says was caused by low enrollment.

“We’re going to take the kids from both programs and merge them into one program and place some of those kids back at Merritt Secondary School, said the District’s superintendent of schools Bob Peacock.

The School District’s decision to displace a mostly teenaged alternative school population, as well as three teaching staff members, has Nicola Valley Teacher’s Union president Loch Eddy bewildered.

“It's shocking that we would treat some of the most vulnerable students in the district in such a shabby manner,” said Eddy in a statement issued on Monday.

“We don't understand what prompted this decision as the two programs enroll over 100 school age and adult learners.”
The merger will reduce the teaching staff from four teachers and four support staff to two teachers and three support staff.
Peacock says there are a couple of reasons for the decline in enrollment in alternative programs.

“Directed Studies, when they first got going, had a large adult continuing education component to it,” explains Peacock.

“Those numbers have shifted down—a couple of reasons from my perspective: the community is small, so after awhile people have picked up all the upgrading courses they need, (and) we also have NVIT in the community offering adult education courses and that might be a better location for adults to go to school and do their upgrading.”

“When you go into a program and see very few kids with four adults, you’ve got to say what is the choice here—we think that a better alternative to those kids getting their education is back at MSS.”

“Will we be successful with all of them? Probably not, but we’re going to work hard at trying to make it as successful as possible,” adds Peacock.

Peacock says district administration and staff have been in discussions with the staff from both sites to determine where the students will end up.

“We’ll have some of those kids integrated back into Merritt Secondary School either in the new Lab 3 setting, which is a room set aside for kids at MSS, some of the kids will be integrated back into the regular program, (and) some of those kids will go over to the CLC and work there.”

The CLC will stay at its downtown location, convenient for those travelling to and from MSS.

“If the numbers work out for Young Moms, we’ll hire the Young Moms in conjunction with Conayt and NVIT, and we’ll hire a teacher to work with the kids, and Conayt will look after the daycare program.”

"What I do know is that the Directed Studies Program will be shut down at the end of the month," said DSC teacher Rick Ferguson.

"DSC provided educational opportunities for youth and adults in the Nicola Valley for the past 18 years. I believe there is still a need for this program. This is a great loss for the community."